Tiger Global-backed Delhivery confirmed that it had a discussion with Alibaba in April this year to chalk out potential fit for its India plans.Payal Ganguly | ET Bureau | May 12, 2016, 07:43 IST

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba’s anticipated India entry has seen ecommerce-focussed logistics companies including Delhivery, GoJavas and Ecom Express making a beeline to clinch a partnership said sources.

Tiger Global-backed Delhivery confirmed that it had a discussion with Alibaba in April this year to chalk out potential fit for its India plans.

“We have discussed how best we can provide fulfilment for Alibaba, which is still finalising its India strategy. There is no official agreement yet,” Sahil Barua, CEO of Delhivery told ET.

The deal becomes critical for the five-year-old logistics company, say industry experts, as it has been under pressure to diversify its business portfolio after one of its top partners Flipkart diverted part of its logistics business to in-house logistics arm Ekart.

Ekart opened up its services recently to third-party players including Paytm, ShopClues and Jabong, making it a competitor in the B2B logistics space.

Similarly, other horizontal marketplaces such as Snapdeal and Amazon have invested heavily in strengthening their own logistics network. Snapdeal also holds a majority stake in GoJavas.

“A company like Alibaba will look for an end-to-end logistics solution provider for its India play. Logistics partners it signs on would be expected to fulfil the deliveries through its warehouse network with additional features on export-import and custom clearance,” said Manish Saigal, managing director, Alvarez & Marsal India.

At present, Alibaba works with listed-entity AllCargo Logistics for its cross-border shipments to India.

Delhivery has made investments in the last-mile and first-mile logistics companies, Opinio and Parcelled, which run as independent entities.

Earlier this year, ET reported that the company has been in the market to raise $200 million from investors including HillHouse, DST Global and others. Sources say, the round has been closed. However, Delhivery declined to comment.

Started in 2011, Delhivery counts Tiger Global among its investors, apart from Multiples Alternate Asset Management, Nexus Venture Partners and Times Internet, a part of Times Group which publishes this newspaper.